Wednesday, March 26, 2003

My Decade... Some friends here in Tunisia loaned us a copy of the recently-aired VH1 series "I Love the '80s".  There are ten episodes, each focusing on a year from 1980-89.  I am a sucker for these VH1 specials independently, but in Tunisia, this stuff is solid gold.  Though not Solid Gold. Each episode talks about trends for the year, stars, songs, movies, television shows, fads, whatever.  They have commentary from various 80's celebrities, including Lionel Richie, Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster, if you didn't know), Tracy Lords, and a host of other people, including some comedians and random musicians, plus Rich Eisen.  The whole thing is really excellent.  We're through '85, and every episode reminds me of things I'd forgotten about.  I had forgotten about Pound Puppies, Day-Glo clothing, Members Only jackets, Nina Blackwood, the television show "Small World", and many, many other things.  Some of my favorite moments include: --jokes about the battle between lovers of Strawberry Shortcake, the Smurfs, and Care Bears --this running sequence about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe--hilarious in its own right--and reflecting how He-Man was the gayest show in history.  They have this montage of clips that seem to prove the point--He-Man talking about how he "Discovered his Special Powers on the day he raised his Magic Sword and said 'BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!  I HAVE THE POWER.'  Clips of He-Man struggling in ways that must be seen to be believed.  He-Man talking about how he doesn't want his dad to know his "special secret." Awesome. --the members of Quiet Riot talking about how much they hated the movie "This is Spinal Tap" because the jokes in the film were too personal to them And a heck of a lot more than that.  Great stuff all the way round. 1:58:11 PM    Let's hear it. []